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Our Tours in the News!"Ryerson and business partner Tanya March lead walking
tours of the (Slabtown) area. 'This is the Hollywood and
Vine of Slabtown,' Ryerson said recently, standing near
the intersection of Northwest 23rd and Savier Street.
Behind him was a house built by Daniel Kern in 1882,
the oldest structure on Northwest 23rd. It's now
a chiropractor's office."
--Rebecca Koffman, The Oregonian
September, 2014

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Text 971.302.3926or email mikeshistorytours@gmail.com

Snail Mail

Mike's History Tours
PO Box 83253
Portland, OR
97283

Tour Guide

Tanya Lyn March PhDWill be leading the tours 2015.

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About your tour guide . . .

Former Northwest Portlander Tanya Lyn March received her
doctoral degree in Urban Studies from Portland State University
in 2010, focusing on historic preservation and community
development. She has a master's degree in Historic Preservation
from Columbia University and is raising two young boys who
attend Metropolitan Learning Center in Northwest Portland.
She is currently working on a book about home front experiences
of children who lived in the Guild's Lake Courts war housing
in Northwest Portland during World War II.
Check out her history treasured blog at:http://historicpreservationclub.blogspot.com.
For guided walking tour reservations, information about slide presentations, or Northwest Portland historic research, updates on honoring Mike Ryerson

e-mail Tanya March PhD at tlm27@caa.columbia.edu
or
call her mobil number 971-302-3926

FRIDAY MARCH 13th 5:30 PM

Slabtown Nobhill Fun Fact #15

The 1-505 Oregon was planned in the 1970s

Neighbors were alarmed when they noticed surveyors planning to clear away homes along the proposed route for I-505. The initialenvironment impact statement was four pages. In November 13, 1970, the Oregonian reported in "Road Route Plan Aired" that J.H. Versed construction engineer for the State Highway Department's metropolitan division estimated that the construction would start in 1973 after homes along Thurman and Vaughn Street could be acquired and demolished. He estimated that the interstate would be completed in 1976. A few months later in September 1971 neighborhood groups filed a class action suit seeking to prevent further acquisition of right-of-way for I-505 and I-405 that were displacing residents.

Memories of Portland Development Commission's proposed Vaughn Street Urban Renewal plan were still in the recent past I-405 and I-505 would eliminate the blight that HAP and others had failed to eliminate. Thurman Street homes were being purchased to facilitate clearing a path for the 1.44-mile Portland spur. The city planning staff estimated that 400 people and some 200 of units of housing would be impacted by the I-505 alone. Our Historic Slabtown Tour would not be possible today had this freeway been built because what little that would be left to view would be so close to a freeway that the car noise would cancel out my tour guide vocal cords. The section from a Portland City map above was published in 1979 by Gousha. The I-505 was conceived of as a junction was conceived to run between St. Helens Road (Highway 30) to Interstate 405. Puzzlingly one of the adverse impacts cited in the blocking of the construction of this interstate was that it would trigger an increase in land values.
If you want to learn more about the fight to stop the I-505 I recommend reading Chet Orloff's 1991 interview with narrator Morton Paglin (link).